AMD Loc: Houston,TX

I own a Nikon D800 and a Sony A6000 . I intend to travel and get pictures of landscapes. Which lenses do you suggest for these 2 cameras? I have Nikkor 24-70mm, 105mm, 28-300mm and Sony 55mm.
Thank you

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I went with a Sigma 14-24mm f/2.8 A primarily for landscapes. I mainly use it with a D850, but I have used it on my D800 with good results.

PixelStan77 Loc: Vermont/Chicago

AMD You are all set with your Nikon. No need to buy anything. I would take the 24-70 and 28-300 and Sony 55.Stan

reverand

You already have all the lenses you need. If you need go travel light and pick one lens, I'd go with the 24-70mm. Another thing to consider is what lens looks "normal" to you, i.e., which focal length do you automatically gravitate toward. For many photographers, 50mm is normal, which is why, for so long, it was the lens supplied on 35mm film cameras. Personally, I think 35mm is normal, but 24mm great for landscapes, but this is just me. I'd suggest you go through some of your landscape photographs that you took with your zoom and study the metadata to find out what focal length you actually use most often. My bet is that it will be between 24mm and 35mm, but that's just a guess.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Totally agree with reverand...

That said since you "...intend to travel and get pictures of landscapes..." the 24-70mm is not what I consider an ideal "Travel Lens" AMD... I have and oft use the iconic AF 24mm f/2.8D which has considerably higher acuity and less distortion than your 24-70mm at 24mm.

From Ken Rockwell... "It is as sharp as the $1,800 24-70mm AF-S at 24mm, and this compact fixed 24mm lens also has far less distortion than the 24-70mm..." Believe Ken got this right...

KEH has it for $280 with caps and hood in EX+ condition...
https://www.keh.com/shop/nikon-nikkor-24mm-f-2-8d-af-wide-angle-lens-117776.html
B&H has the 24mm f/2.8D Nikkor new for $392

Keep in mind AMD you'll not want to shoot this optic wide open for edge to edge sharpness... Stop it down to f/4 or better yet f/5.6... I totally love this optic in the studio for fashion editorials... feather light only 270 grams!

Below is a fashion editorial with the petite 24mm Nikkor...
Hope this helps...
All the best on your travels AMD ...

AF 24mm f/2.8D Nikkor

(Download)

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

Landscape photography can include a lot of different things, and I think that a lot times folks get too tied up in lens selection and then too biased toward lenses that are wider than what might do the best job for them. I have a 14-24mm zoom an use it all the time for night sky photography, but essentially never for landscapes. (The exception is those shots that include items of interest in the vey near foreground while preserving focus on the background.) The disadvantage for me in more ordinary images is that the extremely short lens shoves the background so far away that everything is too small and way too much of the interesting detail is lost or made too small to be interesting. I prefer a non-VR 24-70mm lens for most landscapes. That lens provides all of the advantages of more "normal" focal lengths at significantly less less weight than the VR version of the lens. And I have never found any distortion that lens may have to be any sort of a problem on landscape photographs.

I don't know what your software experience and capabilities are, but if you encounter a situation where 24mm (or preferably 35mm) are not wide enough, it is a simple matter to swap to portrait orientation, shoot three or more panoramic images, then stitch them together. I spent a whole day at Fort Griffin (near Abilene) with a fairly new D500 and a 24-120mm f/4 zoom. (This would be like 35-180mm on your D800.) I came back with a lot of great images, including some very nice panoramic shots of the building ruins with almost a 90 degree horizontal field of view.

If you do decide to consider a wide zoom, I would encourage you to at least look at the Nikkor 14-24mm f/2.8 G zoom. It gets denigrated and badmouthed a lot here, but there is a reason that it has been a preferred night sky lens for many years. Folks talk about distortion, but if the distortion were a quarter as bad as you would be led to believe, it would not be possible to build and stitch 10 exposure panels of starscapes with almost no effort. You do have to be aware of what it will do to the horizon if you aren't careful, but that's true of any extreme wide angle. It's on sale for $1346.95 at B&H right now. (Of course, the world is littered with used ones for sale by folks that thought they needed one until they found out that they didn't.) An argument is usually made that it isn't easily usable with filters, but that hasn't been a "thing" in the three years that I've had mine. If you are ever in the Dallas area, I'll be glad to let you shoot some with mine and you can decide for yourself.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

The 28-300 would be your best option. However, it is not what I would use for landscapes. I like foreground and background images, so I use the Nikon 16-35 mm.
However, given your four options, I would go with the 28-300 on the D800. But, that said, I do not like that combo for travel, too heavy.

ELNikkor

28-300, as 70mm is way too short for a lot of compositions. Optimally, I'd rather take my 24-120 f4, as 28 leaves me too cramped at the short end, and I rarely ever use over 120mm for landscapes.

jbk224 Loc: Long Island, NY

Agree with EL and Bill..28-300. But I don't understand that you have only one lens for the A6000? Then why bother taking this at all? If you plan to be inside historical buildings and tight outdoor areas; you definitely would want to have something wider than 28mm. I used to take my 16-35 with the 28-300. Good luck and have fun!

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

Landscape photography is my passion. As others here have said, you already have pretty good glass. For the "Sweeping landscapes of the American West", it would be nice to have something wider than 24mm unless you intend to do "panos". Like billnikon, I have the 16-35mm Nikkor and have used it with much success. I also have a AF14mm f2.8 that did me well in the Badlands and a 20mm AF Nikkor that goes with me everywhere.

Winslowe

There's no edge distortion that I can detect.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

Shoot a brick wall at f2.8, 24mm and post the image, k?
Otherwise you're just another taking head...

DxO Mark rates it a ~ 1 % at 24mm (barrel).... Only at ~ 30mm is it free of distortion... it moves to pincushion above that... https://www.dxomark.com/Lenses/Nikkor/Nikon-AF-S-NIKKOR-24-70mm-F28E-ED-VR-mounted-on-Nikon-D800E---Measurements__814

Besides it is way too heavy to use as a travel lens...
Events? Yes... Travel? Ludicrous...

But hey this is UHH where Hobbyist establish their persona by the cost of their kit...
Not by the number of published tear sheets like the rest of the commercial photography world...

btw, I believe you may have confused distortion with acuity Winslowe...
To this end below is how well (or poorly) the Nikon AF S 24 70mm f/2.8 ED VR preforms on a Nikon D800

Great at f/2.8 in the Center which is stellar for Events! Not so great at the edges where Landscape shooters typically prefer... Stopping down to f/4 it actually gets much worst! Not until f/8 does it get reasonable...
Enough Said...

Nikon AF S 24-70mm f/2.8 at 2.8 at 24mm on a Nikon D800

(Download)

Nikon AF S 24-70mm f/2.8 at f4 at 24mm on a Nikon D800

(Download)

photoman43

For the Nikon, your 24-70mm ought to cover your needs. If you want to go wider, I suggest adding a Nikon 20mm prime lens, new or used.

E.L.. Shapiro Loc: Ottawa, Ontario Canada

You D-8000 is a full-frame camera- the traditional standard "norma " focal length is 50mm.

Although focal length alone does not control perspective and distance is the main factor, your choice of distance and focal length will determine the "look" of your images as per perspective.

So- the function or result of a wide-angle focal length is no only to be able to simply expand the field of view, in other words, you are getting more width in your image without moving further away
but when you work in closer the perspective changes from what you eyes see without looking through the camera.

So...wide angel usage usually results in exaggerated foregrounds and diminished perceived size of the background in a scene. Telephoto (longer focal lengths) usage tends to compress the background and cause it to seem closer to the subject than in reality.

None of these alterations or variations of perspective are BAD, each can have a positive and interesting effect- it depends on what you want to achieve in any given image.

If, however, you are walking or driving along a road and spot a scene you want to photograph, the rule of thumb is, if you want to show it as the eye sees it as per perspective, a foca lengh slightly longer than "normal" will work., about 60mmm with your camera will do the job.

My point is to select the lenses you are going to pack according to the results you want to achieve based on your shooting style. A wide-angle focal length can better facilitate foreground framing, and employ foreground space or detail to lead the viewers' eye int the motif of you image. The slightly longer-than-normal formula prevents the "it looked better when I saw it and now everything looks too small or far away" disappointment issue that some photographers experience before they are aware of these perspective issues.

A telephoto focal length enables you to capture detail in wildlife and elements in a scene that is otherwise too far away and inaccessible. If the background is out of focus (bokeh) perspective may not be an issue. You may have seen action shots of athletic events, make with telephoto lenses. It may be a shot of a baseball player sliding into home-plate and it looks like the people in the grandstand are only a few feet away from the action were in reality, they are many yards away. That is the image compression that you might find reduces the illusion of the depth or space in a landscape scene.

I hope this helps- enjoy your trip- don't overload you camera bag to the poit of inconvenience but think "perspective"!

Winslowe

I believe you may have misunderstood, I was referring to the image you posted.